San Francisco, Portland and Seattle Consider Green Districts

September 1st, 2009 by Matt DiChiara| Posted in Green Apartment Living | No Comments »

The notably progressive major metropolitan centers of the American northwest (San Francisco, Portland and Seattle) all have drawn up plans to green over central parts of their cities. Moving beyond the concept of isolated LEED certified buildings, these cities are planning to maximize sustainability initiatives by introducing ways that adjacent buildings can use collaborative green technologies to become more efficient.

This ambitious new brand of urban renewal, though still theoretical, would essentially establish eco-districts (referred to as ‘sustainability districts in Portland and ‘climate benefit districts in Seattle), that we picture as open air green houses connected by water park like grey water systems and dotted with futuristic windmills and plated with solar panels. This would be really cool looking, resembling an outdoor botanical garden that was useful or an urban Swiss Family Robinson neighborhood.

San Francisco’s plan, announced around this time last year, has yet to get off the ground; bids for solar panels to be placed atop City Hall (domed building at the left of the plaza) will be sought before November this year, which are predicted to produce 5 percent of that buildings annual electricity needs. The completed plan (for the whole Civic Center area) hopes to reduce water use by 80 percent, energy by 33 percent and greenhouse gas emissions by 2,225 tons and is part of a partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative.

In Portland, two pilot projects have been proposed to create sustainability districts, one at Portland State University and one in the Lloyd neighborhood. The proposals for these plans, helmed by SERA Architects, include community-based thermal systems, such as hot water heaters for multiple buildings and designing a system to deliver rain water from all buildings to those that use it most. For example, at Portland State University, dorms would be able to use run off from neighboring buildings for use in their many and often used dorm toilets.

These plans use the idea of sharing community resources to maximize efficiency. Just as it is cheaper and more efficient to power 100 apartments than 100 standalone homes and just as it is cheaper to cook food for 4 people rather than cook for 1, these cities hope that buildings can act much in the same way, pooling their resources to provide cheaper and more efficient ways to power their communities.

Would you look for an apartment in an eco/sustainability/climate benefit -district? Can owners or employees of apartments see significant problems with being part of an “energy-community?”